Mass Effect: Moments
by Shadow Chaser
Summary: A series of one-shots revolving around Paragon/Female Shepard set in the ME1 and ME2 continuity. Some may be a bit alternate universe or even missing scenes. All deal with the team and those left behind. -MAR. 11 UPDATE: DISCONTINUED DUE TO ME3!-
1. Farewell

Mass Effect 2: Moments

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

I hope this to be the beginning of a series of one-shots and vignettes dealing with Shepard and the crew of the _Normandy SR2_. For reference, my Shepard is a female Paragon with hints of Renegade. I've played this Shepard twice through, one with a romance one while staying true to my ME1 love interest Kaidan so these stories will have on occasion the different romances or non-romances.

**Story:**

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**Title:** Farewell

**Timeframe:** 20 minutes before arriving at the Omega 4 Relay

Shepard stared at the blinking cursor on her screen, wracking her brain to come up with something, anything, to at least write _something_ before it was too late. She had been wondering if she should even send a letter to him, but a part of her knew that it would not be fair to Kaidan if she didn't. This would be her final missive to him, one way or another.

Kaidan deserved that much from her and so much more…

He deserved the chance to finally move on with his life instead of just partially moving on. He deserved to find another person who would cherish and care for him, who wouldn't jump headfirst into hell and die in the process. He deserved someone stable, not someone who really died two years ago and was reborn through a sickening process of cybernetics and synthetics.

Someone who was wholly human and most definitely someone who wasn't perceived as the enemy by former allies. She had realized it after the rush of emotions she felt seeing him on Horizon, protecting the colony. Though she had been initially hurt by his harsh words thrown at her on the colony, she had come to realize that in a way, he was right. She had changed a lot, not physically, but also mentally. The freedom Cerberus offered, not confined to red tape like being a Spectre or Alliance personnel was, gave her the opportunity to pursue whatever goals she deemed necessary to find a way to defeat the Collectors.

She had jumped at that freedom and went crisscrossing the galaxy, finding the best and the brightest. Even the Illusive Man gave her discretion whenever it was due and told her if she did not want to recruit whomever she did not want on the dossiers, it was up to her and no one else. The Alliance and even the Council would have ordered or strongly recommended to her that she recruit people of repute, not convicts or mercenaries or even an assassin.

Cerberus gave her a second chance at life and she knew what she needed to do…to say one last goodbye to Kaidan. To let him go when she should have done two years ago.

Shepard sighed and ran a hand through her short black hair before starting to type:

_Kaidan,_

_This is not how I wanted things to end, but by now you probably know most of the details of my mission for Cerberus and humanity. If not, Anderson has all of the details. You should be able to choose your own life, don't get attached to mine._

_I am glad I got the second chance to say goodbye. You were right on Horizon…I have changed a lot. I don't know what lies beyond the Omega 4 Relay, but I do know that whatever lies in your future, you will be strong._

_Farewell,_

_Rinaran_

She skimmed over the short letter once more before hitting the send button. Just then EDI's soothing voice came over the intercom.

"Commander, twenty minutes until we approach the Relay," the A.I. said quietly.

"On my way," she replied before getting up from her station, taking one last look at Kaidan's picture before heading to her locker and pulling out her armor. She had made her peace.

All that was left was the mission.

* * *

Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko stood at helm of the frigate _Kyoto_, staring at the galaxy map in front of him. Anderson and Admiral Hackett had forwarded him the latest details on attacks by the Collectors in the Terminus Systems. Ever since the Horizon mission had ended in a fiasco, he and his crew along with other patrols had been combing the Terminus System, following each lead they got, hoping that they could stop a Collector ship from attacking human colonies.

However, it had been fruitless so far and Horizon was pretty much the only colony with half of its population saved. His thoughts wandered briefly to Shepard and her ship, the rebuilt _Normandy SR2_, now completely independent of Alliance and Council control. They had not heard any news about the ship or her crew since Horizon, though Kaidan had received a short message from Liara T'Soni who said that Shepard had made a brief stop on Illium looking for the famed assassin Thane Krios and Asari Justicar Samara.

He had to admit, the team that Shepard was building was pretty impressive and he was slightly jealous of the freedom she had in pursuing the Collectors. Sometimes they had to cut through the red tape to get to a potential lead only to find that lead either dead or non existent.

He knew that she was capable of taking care of herself, but was still glad to see that at least Garrus had joined up with her once more. He had been too filled with anger at seeing her with Cerberus that he hadn't even gotten the chance to say hello to Garrus while they were on Horizon. Now, he regretted the chance to tell the turian to watch over Shepard.

His datapad suddenly beeped, telling him that there was an incoming text message and he glanced at it, hitting a few keys to bring up the message. The message was short and brief, but then again, he had long known of Shepard's brevity and succinct approach to any situation.

A frown formed on his lips as he read over the message one more time before closing it. Councilor Anderson had told him to wait for a signal from Shepard and he had wondered why. His former CO did not say anything except to just smile a little, making him wonder if Anderson had learned a little too much about politics from Udina. But it looked like Anderson was right; this was most definitely the signal that they had been waiting for.

"Communications, get me Councilor Anderson on the line along with Admiral Hackett," he barked over to the communications officer who nodded and immediately set about his request.

"Helm, bring us to the nearest relay and prepare to jump to the Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System," he turned to the helmsman, a young woman cut from the same cloth as Joker's class who nodded and started the _Kyoto_ towards the nearest mass relay.

"Sir?" his second-in-command asked, walking up to him.

"Shepard's going into the Collector Base from the Omega 4 Relay. I plan to back them up," Kaidan replied, a grim smile on his face.

~END~


	2. Despair

Mass Effect 2: Moments

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

I hope this to be the beginning of a series of one-shots and vignettes dealing with Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR2. For reference, my Shepard is a female Paragon with hints of Renegade. I've played this Shepard twice through, one with a romance one while staying true to my ME1 love interest Kaidan so these stories will have on occasion the different romances or non-romances.

**Story:**

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**Title:** Despair

"Shepard!" Joker's anguished yell ripped across the comm. systems of the lifepods that drifted further and further away from the dying star of wreckage that was once the SSV Normandy.

Kaidan felt his heart constrict as he looked out of the tiny viewport to see the fiery embers die out quickly as more explosions ripped through the heart of the ship. No…there was no way…no way she was dead. Joker was kidding when he said her name…he had to be…

He hadn't realized he whispered his denial out loud when a petty officer's tentative voice spoke up across from him.

"Sir?" he glanced at the young soldier before looking back at the wreckage, slowly falling towards the low orbit of the planet below. He saw pieces burning up and despair ate at him before he suddenly slammed open a private comm. channel to Joker. He had to know…

"Joker…report," he tried to keep his voice as calm as possible and found that even his own voice sounded cold and harsh. "Is Commander Shepard with you?"

There were a few heartbeats of silence and in those heartbeats, he could imagine her sitting next to Joker, taking her N7 helmet off and catching her breath; ready to come back with a witty reply of sorts. To reassure her crew, her friends, and especially himself, that she was in no way shape or form dead.

He realized those heartbeats had passed without a word from Joker and keyed the comm. again. "Flight Lieutenant Moreau, report!" he ordered, grasping onto the edges of the viewport's frame as if his life depended on it.

If Kaidan knew what he looked like or was even aware of his surroundings, he would have noticed that his face held the expression of desperation, that the surviving crew that was in the same pod as he was also were holding their breath, anxious for news about their beloved commander. And if he was really paying attention, he would have noticed that the second time he had keyed the comm., it was set to broadcast to all of the lifepods, not privately.

"…Nothing…" Joker's voice was barely above a whisper, but in the deathly silence of the lifepod, it crackled loudly in the enclosed space. "Just…nothing…ashes…nothing…"

Kaidan refused to believe the man's babbling words, "Is Commander Shepard on board?"

"Nothing…" Joker continued, his voice cracking, "nothing…"

Kaidan bit his lip, blinking against the sudden onslaught of tears and emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. He wanted to kick something as the realization that Shepard never made it out of the Normandy hit home, but the officer and military discipline within him held that back. Instead, he forced himself to breathe slow and even breaths, to stay calm.

Calm, that was what he needed now… Hysterics was not going to get him anywhere, yet…the quiet sob that echoed from the comm. made him glance towards it as he let go of his grip on the edges of the viewport. There was another sob, this time feminine before words he did not understand poured forth from the comm.. He realized that it was Tali's voice, speaking in her native language…was it a lament?

This time another sob echoed loudly in the lifepod and he looked to his left to see one of the yeoman crying into her uniform, the marine next to her looking decidedly uncomfortable with her public display of sorrow, yet, attempting to comfort her by patting her gently on the back.

It was then that the loss really hit Kaidan and he sat back into his own uncomfortable seat, closing his eyes, trying to block out the sounds of Tali's lament, Liara's quiet sobbing in the background of the comm. and the yeoman that was crying three chairs next to him. He briefly opened his eyes to see the petty officer across from him staring out at the wreckage, now burning into the planet's atmosphere, and saw the faint glimmer of a tear fall down his face.

No…it couldn't be true…

"I'm sorry," Joker's whisper was barely heard over the comm., and Kaidan instantly knew that it was for him.

"I know," he replied, not bothering to key the comm. to say those words to Joker as he closed his eyes once more. Humanity had lost one of its greatest. The Spectres had lost one of its greatest. The Fleet had lost one of its greatest. The crew had lost one of its most beloved commanders…

He had lost the love of his life.

~END~


	3. Loyalty

Mass Effect 2: Moments

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

I hope this to be the beginning of a series of one-shots and vignettes dealing with Shepard and the crew of the _Normandy SR2_. For reference, my Shepard is a female Paragon with hints of Renegade. I've played this Shepard twice through, one with a romance one while staying true to my ME1 love interest Kaidan so these stories will have on occasion the different romances or non-romances.

**Additional Notes:**

This is a quick scenario glimpse into what I think ME3 would entail…

**Story:**

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**Title: **Loyalty

The spray of plasteel and concrete against her legs made her scrunch up further into the small crate she was using for cover as husks, Collectors, and Reaper Drones peppered their area with suppressing fire. She glanced over to where Commander Shepard was hidden behind her pile of crates, a cool and calculated look on her face. Jack snorted mostly to herself as she briefly wondered if anything, anything at all, could faze a woman like her.

She had to admit, the Commander had balls of steel, if she had been a guy she would have balls of steel, but since she was a girl, there was no other proper way to describe the courage, determination, and resolve in their current firefight with the enemy. Hell, if she hadn't had such guts, Jack would have been long gone even before they blew the Collector Base to kingdom come just a little over a year ago.

For Jack, at first it seemed like the Commander was just an easy route for her to blow up some Cerberus facilities, to get her revenge. But even after that, she stuck around, curious about why a woman like her could lead so many men, women, and even aliens into battle with her and survive almost impossible odds. Why they had all followed her and why she fought with such resistance.

She had seen the way many of the men she commanded looked at her, hell even some of the women, especially the mono-gendered Asari – though she had to admit, they didn't quite count as the female population. Even she herself had been drawn in by her charisma, though she knew if she swung in that direction, she would have already probably slept with her. But it was just a thought.

Yet, for all of her dedication to the fight, she had never seen a lonelier soul. Not since the death of the pretty-boy Commander Alenko a few months back during the attack on the Citadel that destroyed about half of the giant space fortress. Granted Alenko died a hero's death, buying time for the Council and for everyone else to escape before he detonated the warheads and destroyed four Reaper ships, sending the Reapers a clear message in the process – humanity and the rest of the galaxy would not go down without a fight.

However, his death had torn a part of Shepard raw that Jack had never seen before. When the _Normandy_ pulled away from the Citadel, it had taken the combined efforts of her, queen-bitch Miranda, Jacob, and Samara's biotic powers to prevent her from ripping the ship in half with her own powerful biotics to try to reach Alenko. But even with their combined effort and powers, it was only Garrus, to Jack's surprise, that managed to even calm the Commander down into a semblance of her old self.

Jack had immediately recognized that while Shepard had loved Alenko with all of her heart, she had not been faithful and with Alenko gone had turned to the only other person she knew to look to for comfort.

A thousand inappropriate and sarcastic jokes had run through Jack's head as she and the others watched Garrus slowly lead her to the medical bay where Dr. Chakwas was able to sedate her without a fuss for the remainder of the day. Then queen ice bitch had given her a look and orders on not to spread rumors to which she had just given the bitch an obscene gesture and left, going back down to the cargo hold where she felt the most comfortable.

Who was Miranda to think that she would even be so insensitive at a time like that? Even she knew the loss of a lover, no matter how much abuse one had in the hands of one, there was still that panging sense of disconnection. Though she had shot her lover with her own hands, she had felt the loss of someone who had shared such intimate experiences with her. So who was queen bitch to think of such things?

The burn of a small rock of concrete biting into her arm made her flinch out of her thoughts and she scrunched herself up some more behind the crate. She checked her pistol's heat clip and saw that it was still fresh and ready to use.

"Hey, we're blowing this joint up or what?" she suddenly shouted over to Shepard who glanced at her, an eyebrow rose before shrugging.

"Legion?"

"The pattern of break should be right about…now," the Geth replied emotionlessly and Jack surged upwards from her crouched position, letting loose a whoop of happiness.

Finally, there would be things to kill!

Her eyes immediately picked out the targets closest to them, a line of husks, running towards them, their electronic screams rendering the air with crackles of electricity. Jack felt the power surge from her head, a spike of a small headache before she whipped her arm forward and let loose a shockwave of biotic power; the freight train slamming into the row of husks running towards them.

Immediately, they flew into the air one after another, toppling off the walkway and into the abyss below. Laughter burst from her throat as she picked out another target and pulled it towards her just as the rapport of Legion's sniper rifle crackled through the air right near her air. The flying target became nothing more than a dead body and she let it fall, the Collector's body a crushing weight upon a hapless Reaper Drone, pinning it down.

"Let's move!" Shepard suddenly called as she sprang forth from her hiding position and charged forward, her shotgun in hand, blasting the Collectors, husks, and Drones that were trying to make their way towards her. Jack followed right beside her, a vicious grin on her face.

She knew that even with the death of Alenko hanging over Shepard's head, she would get the job done and Jack was glad to be by her side. Hell, she would make sure that the job was done before anyone else died for her. For the death of her lover, Shepard would become the ruthless weapon that they needed now. There was no more fear, no more hesitation.

Nothing left except for the mission.

For that, Shepard had her undying loyalty.

~END~


	4. Protector

Mass Effect 2: Moments

By: Shadow Chaser

**Author's Notes:**

I hope this to be the beginning of a series of one-shots and vignettes dealing with Shepard and the crew of the _Normandy SR2_. For reference, my Shepard is a female Paragon with hints of Renegade. I've played this Shepard twice through, one with a romance one while staying true to my ME1 love interest Kaidan so these stories will have on occasion the different romances or non-romances.

**Additional Note:**

A little AU based on "Farewell."

**Story:**

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**Title:** Protector

"Joker get us out of here!" the urgency in Shepard's voice could not be as plain as day as she stomped off of the barely working elevators and past the navigation map, pushing her way past the rest of the crew who were manning their stations, most of them still injured, but willing to do their jobs to get the hell out of the Collector Base.

"I'm trying Commander- oh shit!" Joker swore just as the ship rocked to the left, sending everyone who was not buckled into their seats flying towards the bulkheads.

Shepard barely grabbed hold of an empty seat, but felt her already battered body slam into the bulkhead before the ship righted itself and she grimaced. That definitely left some of her ribs bruised as she continued forward, grabbing onto the back of the chairs for support and climbed her way towards Joker who looked like he was bleeding freely from several cuts and what looked like a nasty electric burn across his left bicep to shoulder.

"Status!" she shouted over the din of explosions and screeching metal.

"Got another of those Collector ships on our tail…looks like they had more than one bugging out on us!" Joker's voice was strained and she could see EDI's code lines running faster than normal as both A.I. and pilot tried to maneuver the ship towards the angry red mass relay, still glowing and pulsating with its mysterious mass effect source.

"Any time now…" Shepard tried to suppress the urgency in her voice, trying to remain calm, but another hit to the ship threw them to the right and she glanced up as control panels hissed and sparked. Dancing away from it, winced as one electric bolt jolted through her armor and into her shoulder. She frowned as her arm started to feel numb from the effects…

"EDI…now!" the blood-red arcs of power filled the viewport and just as Joker punched the button to spool up the mass relay to jump out of the core, a lacerating blast tore through the _Normandy_, sending everyone who was not buckled down flying through the air as the gravity generators died.

Shepard found herself flying through the air, unable to get her bearings before she spotted an overhead beam about to fall on Joker. She immediately grabbed the nearest chair and wrenched herself forward, intercepting the piece of metal before it could crush her pilot. An incredible pain blossom in the back of her head and neck, stars filling her eyes before she blacked out.

* * *

The _Normandy SR2_ hurled out of the Omega 4 mass relay with an incredible speed and force, spinning this way and that as thrusters tried to realign the ailing and heavily damaged ship before just as suddenly something deadlier hurled out of the mass relay, yellow beam-like weaponry blazing at its target, determined to kill it.

Joker fought the controls, ignoring the pain in his shattered shoulder. He knew that he probably all of his bones, if not most of it, had hairline fractures. One with hollow bones did not get thrown around that roughly and come out without any injury of sorts. He just hoped he lived to see the end of this. "Come on…" he muttered under his breath as he tapped a few of the power systems to reroute whatever he could to get his ship to move. Already, acrid smoke and sparks from the broken and battered ship filled the bridge, but he resolutely blinked the tears out of his eyes from the smoke. It had to be hell back there…

"Hang on Commander…" he muttered, hoping that Shepard was still behind him, silently giving him her encouragement.

"Jeff, thrusters are almost non-responsive, we need-"

"I know EDI; just give me as much power as possible into that and into the weapons. We're gonna shoot that son of a bitch down," he cut off the A.I. wrenching the controls around.

Suddenly the comm. system crackled in a broadband transmission and Joker nearly wet his pants in relief at the voice that came over. "_Normandy SR2_, this is the _Kyoto_, we've got your six, hold on…"

"Alenko, that you?" he keyed the comm. back, unable to keep the relief out of his voice as he pulled hard to starboard and dove under a beam that barely touched the skin of the _Normandy_.

"Looks like you left the party in a hurry," Kaidan's voice came back, tight with emotion. "All ships, take down that son of a bitch," he ordered. Though Joker could not see the ships from the viewport, and with the radar completely mucked up after so many blasts to their hull and armor, he did see brilliant beams of light and missiles fired past the Normandy.

"EDI, we've got anymore left in the Thanix Cannons and Javelins'?" he asked.

"Just a little more," EDI's voice replied back coolly before she blinked her 'eye' turning red, "firing them now."

Joker watched through the barely working targeting system as the Collector ship that had been pursuing them was destroyed in a spectacular fashion. Letting out a loud whoop, he grinned and turned slightly in his seat, expecting to see Shepard with her usual cheeky grin on her face, ready to congratulate him.

Instead, what he saw horrified him. Pinned beneath a piece of overhead metal sheet that had fallen during the attack on the _Normandy_ was Shepard, unmoving and bleeding heavily from numerous injuries. A quick glance up made him see the _Normandy's_ inner wires and tubes running fore and aft the ship and he realized, that his Commander had protected him by attempting to divert the falling piece of metal away from him, enabling him to continue to pilot them to safety.

"No…" the whispered denial fell from his lips. He had seen her die once already…to save him. And now, she had done the same again, even though they were nothing more than friends. "No…Shepard, don't do this…"

He quickly keyed the comm. next to EDI's station, "Dr. Chakwas! Miranda! Anyone?!! Shepard's down!!"

~END~


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